[Stream/Editor Test] SoulCalibur V -- Quick Battle
2This is just a sort of simple proof-of-concept along a similar set of lines as what I did with Monster Hunter Freedom, although since the action is more scattered and therefore requires more cuts with unfortunately less-than-precise tools.
Really, having a Twitch channel that keeps track of the streams that occurred previously (for how long by default, I have no idea) without all these sneaky reach-arounds means that an "upload" such as this is pretty much meaningless in the big picture... so this is pretty much just an excuse and exercise in poking all the tools available.
And for the bad news, apparently there was a pretty nasty frequency of lag spikes brought on by my particular choice in settings, but that's what learning experiences are about... and now my learning opportunity (i.e. "mistakes") are preserved here for all-time ridic-- uh, posterity. Yes, that.
I do want to take a brief enough moment to thank my initial test group across all these early streams giving me feedback in real time:
http://www.youtube.com/WhiteKhakis
http://www.youtube.com/Duke091s
http://www.youtube.com/Overhazard
Of course, even with an unlimited quantity of the best feedback in this fashion... it'll still like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet while wearing a blindfold riding a horse. Great Scott! Heisenberg was right!
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Match #01 -- The Adrian
Astaroth vs. DEATHDEALER [Cervantes]
I think we all already know what the reason for my selection was... unfortunately, I also managed to determine that the randomization only counts once, and then you'll just keep using that character until you revisit the select screen... and, I mean, Astaroth isn't exactly a BAD choice per se for me, but the point is the random selection, not comfort level.
That said, SoulCalibur V is... quite a different beast altogether in terms of speed, game mechanics, and even just character variations... somehow even the characters that remained on the roster feel at least a touch more "foreign" than I expected, let alone the successors of past fighting styles.
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Match #02 -- Denevér Castle: Eye of Chaos
Dampierre vs. ShadowGX13 [Pyrrha Ω]
So I resorted to just taking a little walk around the character select screen at... well, I'm not good enough to legitimately randomize on my own, but at least I can say it was arbitrary rather than random. In a stroke of good fortune, I ended up with the DLC character Dampierre without any imposition, and I have to say... this guy is awesome. Confusing, but awesome.
Basically, any time he falls down or otherwise seems to be in pain due to his own apparent ineptitude, it's actually a "stance" change, and they're all actually based around random chance of "failure"... so... I've got a lot of work ahead of me in terms of deciphering his movements.
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Match #03 -- Denevér Castle: Eye of Chaos
YuuGiJoou [Edge Master] vs. Helena [Pyrrha Ω]
To address my need for randomness, I decided that I'd just mess around with the character creator and engineer one that runs on the Edge Master's style. Edge Master is the "mimic" style character of the game, which unfortunately there wasn't one of in IV... which required great sacrifice on my part, I'll have you know. A Mimic is the ultimate mid-match randomization tool, and therefore it's the best thing ever. And even Dampierre can be mimicked... super best thing ever.
Technically, there are also two other characters that offer mimicry, but they're limited to only male or female character styles... so Edge Master is clearly a much better best thing ever.
My only complaint is that Edge Master style entrances and victories are all the same instead of just copying whatever style is in use at the time... but it is amusing to see characters who are clearly beardless stroking phantom facial hair far removed from their faces... of course, it still seems to function as a similar thinking pose, but it's just a little weird if you think about it.
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Match #04 -- Tower of Glory: Spiral of Good and Evil
Ezio Auditore da Firenze vs. Edge Master
I really need to read the details on my opponents before I choose them, because this isn't the "Calibur Master" for nothing... Poor Ezio, he wandered into the wrong game at the wrong moment.
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Match #05 -- House of Valentine's Prague Residence
Ezio Auditore da Firenze vs. Kusanagi [Ivy]
Okay, so I got to actually let Ezio have a chance to do something without getting horribly maimed. I don't really get how a lot of his moves work yet, because I'm a lazy non-training person (who still wants to "train" with crash courses in Edge Mastery all the time), but this is basically the most I've ever made him do to date...
Interesting side note, Ezio is voiced by Roger Craig Smith, making this another case where Siegfried and a SoulCalibur game's guest character shared the same actor. The previous time was Nobuyuki Hiyama's roles as Link and Siegfried coinciding in SoulCalibur II... the GameCube version, anyway.